When Sunrises Set
by Twlight Eclipse At Midnight
Summary: Jason's left Port Charles for Italy and meets a woman who could be his second chance to do things right, his redemption. Maxie's husband Johnny has died, leaving her alone in the world with one last promise to fulfill. Maxie/Matt/Jason/Claudia/Sam/Johnn
1. Chapter 1

It was a tiny, dirty bar in a nameless town

"_Falling past_

_Memories_

_Falling like_

_Autumn floating_

_Down stream."_

It was a tiny, dirty bar in a nameless town. The kind of place that was just waiting to be shut down by the health department. The drinks were cheap and watered down, not nearly enough to get drunk off of. The only sounds to be heard were the shot glasses hitting the bar. People didn't come here to bare their souls. No one sought company here, outside of a cheap night in bed with a stranger that you would never see again. They came for the bottle. The worthless strength that alcohol could give, if you were lucky. It was hell to most people, but to her it was perfection.

This was her comfort zone, her atmosphere. Empty and barely holding together. She had always known that with her lifestyle it was wise to make friends with the rats. And you wouldn't find much else here. Just a hole in the middle of nowhere filled with rats and inexpensive liquor. But she wasn't here for either. Tonight was a goodbye to herself, a grand finale of sorts. Tomorrow was a day for beginnings, but it would have to wait until the bright sunlight of a new day. "You're late."

"Why are we meeting here anyway? It's so… depressing." Her blonde companion flagged down the bartender, ordering them each a drink. "Although I guess it's appropriate, right? We did just bury my husband."

"He wouldn't want—."

"No, Claudia, it's okay. I have to get used to it, right? Like, Hello. My name is Maxie Zacharra and my husband is…" She couldn't finish. She could feel herself dissolving into nothing again. She fought the tears back, taking a shot of tequila. Her long blonde hair was pulled back from her face. The black dress made her skin look even paler than normal. Johnny's death had destroyed them both, but Claudia wouldn't cry. She could only let a part of herself die with her brother and watch out for his wife.

"He loved you, kiddo." Claudia murmured, her fingers wrapping around the scotch Maxie had ordered for her. Her long black hair fell freely around her face. A curtain to shield her from wandering eyes. "It took me awhile to figure out why… But I know that he has loved you since day one. It's all I ever heard about. His blonde goddess.

"Yeah, he loved me. But he never loved anyone more than his big sister. You were the reason the world spun." It hurt, even now, to say it, to admit that Johnny had loved Claudia more. But he would've died a long time ago without his sister to protect him. And then Maxie would've missed out on the chance of a lifetime. "It was a brief glimpse of heaven, wasn't it?"

"Oh, are we waxing poetic now?" Claudia finished her second scotch. Maxie bit down on her bottom lip, fighting the inevitable tears. Claudia wrapped her arms around her sister. "Blondie, you're allowed to miss him. You can scream, cry, and want to disappear… You've earned it."

"Do I get to have my husband back? Have I earned that? Because if you're about to say no, then I really don't give a damn." Maxie slammed down her shot glass and sighed. A broken, hollow sound. "Let's go."

It wasn't a question. They both knew that Claudia wouldn't argue with her brother's grieving widow. She tossed some money onto the bar and followed Maxie out to the waiting car service. Neither of them spoke on their way back to Claudia's villa. Clothes littered the floor, wall to wall. But they didn't care. Johnny had always been the neat freak in the family. Their reason for living was dead. How could anything ever matter again?

--

"_I wish I could carry you_

_In my arms_

_But we faltered_

_To think_

_How this could be."_

"You're running away? Just like that? Were you even going to bother to say goodbye?" Jason turned at the sound of her voice, breaking over the words. He braced himself for another battle. Sam McCall had never run from a fight in her life. And he knew she sure as hell wasn't about to start now. It's one of the many reasons that he loved her. And also one of the major reasons he had to leave her.

"I said goodbye two months ago when you were shot in my arms, Sam. I let you go the second that I knew you were going to live." He could still see her blood all over his hands. It just wouldn't wash away.

"Right. I forgot. It's more fun to kill me slowly, from the inside out."

"You know damn well that I'm doing this to protect you. I never wanted to see you hurt." Jason had to curl his fingers into a tight fist. If only he had been able to protect her. If only the shooter hadn't missed his mark. If only… But none of his hoping would turn back time or change what he knew he had to do. "Sam, think back to when we lost--… To when your daughter died. Would you have done anything if there had been a way to keep her safe?"

"I would've paid any price to protect my little girl." Anger bubbled inside of her. He could see it in her eyes. She felt backed into a corner and was probably seconds from lashing out blindly. She would attack anyone that got in her path of self-destruction. Pain was a powerful thing.

"So, you have to understand that I would do the same thing."

"I'm not a child, Jason! I'm not innocent or naïve. I know that your job is dangerous. That's a risk I'm willing to take." Her eyes were filled with unshed tears. But she was too proud to let them fall. She was too damn angry. Her world was crumbling to pieces at her feet. She had lost two daughters and now Jason was turning his back on her. Everything she had believed in felt like they were all lies.

"And what if I can't do that? We never thought about it. I had prepared you for this life to kill me. But I never thought, for a second, that it would take you away from me." The words brought back wave after wave of painful memories. He could still taste the antiseptic from the hospital. He could feel her limp hand clutched desperately in his. His head ached from the persistent beeping of her heart monitor. "No. I can't do it. You don't understand, Sam. I have to leave. And then you'll finally be safe."

Sam watched him throw a duffel bag into the back of the S.U.V. She could barely breathe. How could it still be so painful? She felt like her life was being siphoned from her very veins. "Jason. I figured it out."

"What?"

"Why I slept so much better in your apartment." The tears streaked freely down her cheeks. She struggled to force air in and out of her lungs. "You make me feel safe."

"Sam." Jason had barely turned around when she flew into his arms. It felt right to hold her so tightly, to feel her heart beat against his. She fit into him like no one else ever had. But they both knew that this was it. Their life together would end with the same words it had started with. He pressed a hard kiss to her forehead.

"Go. Before I change my mind and do something ridiculously stupid." Sam watched him nod slowly, releasing her reluctantly. She stood there helplessly until he had driven out of sight, out of her life once and for all.


	2. Chapter 2

"I watched the walls

"_I watched the walls_

_Around me crumble_

_But it's not like I won't build them up again_

_So here's your last chance_

_For redemption_

_So take it while it lasts_

_Because it will end_

_My tears are turning into time_

_I've wasted trying to find a reason for goodbye."_

"_I can't live without you_

_Can't breathe without you_

_I dream about you_

_Honestly tell me that it's over_

_Because the world is spinning_

_And I'm still living."_

-Over by Lindsay Lohan

"Macaroni and cheese again? Honestly, Maxie, this isn't taking care of yourself." Claudia poked the orange concoction with a fork, her lips curling back in mild disgust. Maxie had barely left the villa in the three months since Johnny's death. She had locked herself away, searching for answers that may not even exist. "John would want yo--…"

"Do not tell me what _my_ husband would or wouldn't want me to do. I honestly believe that Johnny would've fought tooth and nail to avenge my death if I had been the one to die first." Maxie pushed her untouched food away, her stomach revolting against the smell suddenly. She buried her head in her hands, images of long nights spent with Johnny and cheap food played in her mind. It was the helpless gesture of defeat that made Claudia notice the old, worn folder that was carefully buried under a vast array of outdated fashion magazines.

"Yeah, you're right. He would've completely shut down, just like you have. But do you remember what he said? Do you remember what my brother's last words were?" Claudia grasped Maxie's hands in hers, forcing the blonde girl to meet her dark eyes. "He told us to move on, to keep living our lives. Because he loved us. He loved _you._"

"I will live my life, Claudia. After I fulfill my promises to my husband." Maxie scooped up her magazines, and the folder. She marched silently to her bedroom, glancing at the endless amount of pictures that littered the bed and floor. News articles and confidential police reports were scattered through out the mess. She knew them all by heart, word for word. But she still read over them constantly, scouring the print for anything she might've missed. She had abused her stepfather's position as Port Charles Police Commissioner. It had allowed her to call in favors and get her hands on reports that should've been forbidden. She hid her obsession as best she could, knowing how much it worried Claudia. But Maxie had already failed Johnny once. She couldn't let him down again. She had a promise to keep, whether anyone else liked it or not.

Maxie Jones had been a little girl trying to play dress up her entire life. Her sister's tragic death had sent her into a tailspin like no other. She had been a college drop out with nothing except remarkable fashion sense going for her. Georgie had been the smart one, the pretty one, and even the lucky one. Everyone had loved Georgie unconditionally. Her death had nearly killed them all, especially Maxie. But, in the end, it had been the reason she had met Johnny.

Johnny had been casually dating Lesley Lu Spencer when Georgie had been murdered. But that had only lasted until Dillon Quartermaine, Georgie's ex-husband, had shown up in town for the funeral. Then suddenly Lulu and Dillon were inseparable again and Johnny was picking a sobbing Maxie up off of the docks. She had been drowning her insurmountable sorrows in tequila, having long since given up on caring about whether she herself lived or died. But Johnny, for some unexplainable reason, had cared. So he had carried her back to her room above Kelly's diner and stayed with her that entire night. She still didn't understand how he had fallen in love with her. But he always sworn that he had known it the second he had seen her huddled on the docks. It had just taken her a little longer.

Johnny had never given up on her. She had lied and run away too many times to count, but he kept insisting that she was the only thing that could make his life complete. So she had let him put a ring on her finger and whisk her away on a honeymoon in Italy that had lasted two and a half years. It had ended the day Johnny had died. Now she was completely alone, halfway around the world from her home and family.

Maxie toyed with her cell phone. It would be so easy to call her cousin. Robin had always been more like an older sister, and sometimes even a mother, to her. She had held Maxie's hand through her heart transplant and the many broken hearts that had followed. She had comforted Maxie the night Georgie was murdered, when no one else had dared to touch the hysterical blonde. Shouldn't she at least call to check on Robin's daughter, Madelyn? Her fingers shook as she dialed the long distance phone number. She hadn't talked to her family since two weeks prior to Johnny's death.

"Dr. Scorpio." Robin's voice came across the line, knocking the very breath from Maxie's body. "Hello? Is someone there?"

"It's me."

"Maxie? Oh my God. Sweetie, where are you? Are you still in Italy? Are you okay? You sound different." Robin's words were flowing out of her mouth in a swirl of worry and relief. Maxie could feel her cousin's underlying panic and suddenly felt like she was drowning in a sea of guilt. How could she have disconnected herself so completely from her family? "Maxie? Are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. I'm in Italy." Maxie could feel the tears choking her, burning her eyes as she fought them back. How was she supposed to do this? How could she tell her family that Johnny was dead?

"What's wrong? Maxie, why haven't you called?"

"Johnny's gone. He died three months ago and… Robin, I'm so scared." Maxie felt the moisture soaking her cheeks. It was the first time she had admitted, even to herself, how terrified she was to live in a world where Johnny no longer existed. It felt like someone was stabbing her relentlessly. How could it still be so raw? This wasn't home. It was nothing without Johnny's arms around her. What had made her think that she could stay here without him? But she knew the answer. Because it hadn't mattered where she was. Her husband had died. It was an inescapable fact.

"Maxie? We'll be there as soon as we can, okay? Just hold on." Robin disconnected the call before Maxie could tell her not to bother. She knew that she couldn't make it hurt any less for her cousin. It seemed like Johnny had taken most of the good in Maxie to the grave with him. Robin tossed the chart she had been working on to her friend, Elizabeth. "Patrick, pack your bags. We're going to Italy. We have to get Maxie."

"Why do we have to go get her? Can't her perfect little husband bring her home?" Patrick pulled his girlfriend down onto the hospital couch with him, massaging the back of her neck out of pure habit as he exchanged a skeptical look with his friend, Matt Hunter.

"No, Patrick, her can't. The news final began to set in as she uttered to words aloud. It was surreal. How could Maxie have lost another person that had meant the world to her? Hadn't Georgie been enough? It didn't seem fair. Robin touched Patrick's cheek gently, closing her eyes against the pain and fear that bombarded her. "Johnny's dead."

--

"_Help, I have done it again _

_I have been here many times before _

_Hurt myself again today_

_And, the worst part is there's no-one else to blame."_

- Breathe Me by Sia

Jason turned his cell phone off, sick of listening to the tragic voicemails. Carly was desperate and scared to go through a single day without him. Sonny needed him for this or that regarding business. The only one who _hadn't_ called was Sam. Her silence frightened him. He knew that Sonny would tell him if anything had happened to her. The lack of communication only meant that his sacrifice was paying off. His self-imposed exile was protecting her, saving her life, whether she was grateful or not. No news was good news. He had to remind himself constantly that he had chosen this. Sam would've been more than happy to move home, to risk her life everyday because they were in love. But he _couldn't_ do that. There was no reason good enough to justify that kind of selfishness.

He had been unable to stay in one place for more than a few weeks. He periodically sent a postcard or two back to Sonny's three children, but that was the only hint anyone in Port Charles got about his whereabouts. And he never sent them until he was on his way out of town. Just in case Sonny or Carly got any bright ideas about tracking him down. He couldn't go home. He knew that. Not that it was much of a home anymore. It was just a connection of empty rooms filled with lonely memories. The baby's stuff still littered one of the spare rooms. _"It's the nursery, Jason. If you take away this stuff, then it's just a room. Right now it has…" _Hope. It had hope. But she hadn't wanted to say that. Because the crib was empty, the toys untouched. Hope, just like Lila McCall, was gone. Just in a different sense.

They had been through hell. He had to admit that. He had held her together through the pain, fear, and utter heartbreak. She had taught him to believe in love, in a future, again. But it had splintered and shattered like everything else in his life. With a bullet. How many times had a single shot destroyed something important to him? His lifestyle had cost him Robin, Elizabeth, his unborn baby with Courtney, Courtney herself, and now Sam. Hadn't he learned his lesson years ago? Shouldn't he have realized after Robin how futile his efforts were? His life in Port Charles wasn't designed for love or families. He couldn't hold it together like Sonny, who had a loving wife and three beautiful children. Sonny had everything that Jason could never grasp.

He raised his beer in a silent toast to everything he had left behind. Friends, family, and a life that he wasn't sure he had ever really wanted. He finished off the drink and pulled out an old, folded map with torn and tattered edges. He had been through England, France, Egypt, Sudan, Asia… Each place he had visited was crossed out with red ink. He had been ignoring that childish urge to go to the one place that had always reaffirmed his faith in the world, a place that let him place his feet on solid ground. And that's when he decided. He was going to Italy.

--

"_I'm scared and I'm alone_

_I'm ashamed_

_And I need for you to know_

_Healing comes so painfully_

_And it chills to the bone_

_Will anyone get close to me?_

_I'm damaged, as I'm sure you know."_

- Damaged by Plumb

Claudia Zacharra wasn't an easy woman to tempt. She intimidated eighty percent of the men she met and seduced the remaining twenty. She was fearless when it came to her family's lifestyle and made sure everyone knew it. She was loud and flashy… Especially in her shoe taste. It was easy to describe her taste in two words. _Expensive and red._ But the rest of her was far more complex. She didn't trust. She didn't _care_.The only two people to ever get through her defenses were Maxie and Johnny, her only real family. Her father was a homicidal sociopath that had murdered her mother and John's. He had shipped her off to live with a distant uncle as soon as her stepmother's body had been put in the ground. Her precious, devoted uncle that had thrown a credit card at her and never looked back.

So she wasted her time on endless shopping trips that never made her feel any better. Then Johnny had shown up on her doorstep with a glowing, shy blonde girl. His wife. Her baby brother had fallen head over heels in love and gotten married. They're three week honeymoon seemed to get longer and longer as Maxie and Claudia bonded. Johnny enjoyed the freedom from the pressure of the family business, content to let some lawyer oversee everything. Maxie was just happy being wherever her husband was, content to call her family ever few days to check in. The utter relief of dropping her facades seduced Claudia in a matter of weeks. It was amazing to just be herself, even for just a little while in the privacy of their little villa.

She didn't have to be tough or fearless. She could just be _human_ for a little while, something she had never experienced before. She had spent the first seven years of her life being groomed to take over the family business. Then Johnny was born and Anthony had no use for his daughter anymore, but she had been determined to protect her brother as much as possible from the horrible childhood she had been forced to survive. But she became more trouble than she was worth when she turned sixteen and was shipped overseas. She had only agreed to go when daddy dearest killed her stepmother and threatened Johnny's life. She had been horrified to watch the life slowly drain from John's mother, a woman who had tried her best to care for a daughter that wasn't her own.

It was unbelievable how much hell she had lived through before her tenth birthday. But she had stopped caring, had stopped being angry about it. She had Johnny. What else could possibly matter? Now Johnny was gone and Maxie was in pieces. Claudia had to be the strong one again. She couldn't be scared or show any weakness whatsoever. It was time for her to stop being human. She'd be damned if she lost the only person left alive that she loved. Even if that meant losing herself in the process.


End file.
